Man sentenced to 22 years for rapes in Kirkland and Bellingham

A man who raped an elderly woman in Kirkland and a disabled woman in Bellingham last year was sentenced this afternoon to 22 years in prison in King County Superior Court.

Moses Kelly, 26, pleaded guilty in August to first-degree rape and first-degree burglary with sexual motivation for the attack on an 80-year-old woman in Kirkland on Oct. 25. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree rape for attacking a disabled woman in a Bellingham park two weeks before the Kirkland attack.

Kelly was linked to the attacks because his DNA was on file from a prior arrest for a carjacking in California, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

“This case shows what a powerful tool DNA upon arrest can be,” King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg said in a news release. “If not for California’s law that required Kelly to give a DNA sample when he was arrested, it is unlikely that we could have solved these predatory sexual assaults here in Washington.”

According to police, the Kirkland woman was walking into her home in the 9500 block of Northeast 128th Street around 11:45 a.m. Oct. 25 when she saw a man “swiftly approaching her.” She tried to quickly shut her door, but he pushed it open and shoved her onto the floor. He put his hand over her mouth and started to choke her during the assault.

The woman told police that the man pulled off her clothing and raped her.

She said the man told her that he was homeless and had recently gotten out of a four-year relationship. During the sexual assault the woman bit the man on one of his hands, police said.

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The Today File is a general news blog featuring real-time coverage of Seattle and the Northwest. It is reported by the news staff of The Seattle Times and includes stories from The Associated Press and McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.